Drama
by Kashoona
Summary: I'm in middle school. So I have Drama. I had to write an essay, so I decided to show it to all of you on fanfic. So here you are! Enjoy!


Alyssa Baldwin

11-15-09

Period 4

Technology Film, Special Effects

Have you ever wondered what you do to make a movie? Well I have, and I think it's very interesting the way the directors do it. Back then, there wasn't very much technology that could impress us today. But now, our technology can do anything. If we want to make a three headed octopus, we can do it. If we want a six-legged cat, we can do it. Our technology is cool isn't it?

It's hard to work with animals. You have to train them, and if something goes wrong, you have to start over. That's a lot of wasted time. But thanks to today's technology, we can use computers to animate animals. This is called animatronics. Animatronics is the process of creating electronic and mechanical creatures that respond to remote control signals. Animatronics can create the unbelievable without the need for special trainer or retakes, and the creatures can take the shape of ordinary animals, such as a fantastic aliens and monsters form outer space. – _Hamilton, Jake. Special Effects in film and Television. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 1998. Print._

In the movie _''Buddy''_ (1997) four different models of gorillas were made to show the star of the show as a baby, a toddler, a juvenile, and an adult ape. For the adult version an actor wears a padded ''hair'' suit. It took one person six weeks to punch in all the hairs on Buddy's back. Buddy's feet have velcro straps that attach to the actors feet and the full-body suit. The adult head is worn like a crash helmet and is fully animatronic. The hands are very flexible and fit on like gloves. The muscle suit is put on first, than the hair suit. The heat is VERY intense.

For _Buddy, _the animatronic head was made to convey an array of emotions with its eyes, nose, mouth, and facial muscles. _– Hamilton, Jake. Special Effects in film and Television. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 1998. Print. _

Here are some facts of how _Buddy's _face is made:

Each hair is individually punched in by hand

Eyebrow Mechanism- the slightest twitch can convey profound emotions

Realistic bulge in the cornea adds to _Buddy's _soulfulness

A soft and fleshy silicone skin gives added realism to _Buddy's _facial expressions

Lightweight polycarbonate shell maintains the shape of _Buddy_'_s_ skull under the skin

Acrylic teeth are indistinguishable from the real thing

Powerful jaw motors can bite hard- actors better look out!

The face is sculpted from accurate reference

When actor Jaye Davidson changes into an ancient Egyptian pharaoh on a futuristic planet in the movie _Stargate (1994)_, computer-generated morphing was needed to show the slow change from a god to human being. '' Director Roland Emmerich gathered a special effects team to effect the morph, filming the actor in costume so that this footage could then be blended by computer with film taken of the Egyptian mask.'' – _Hamilton, Jake. Special Effects in film and Television. New York, NY: DK Publishing. 1998. Print._

_Willow_ is the first movie in history to use the technique called morphing. ''To do this the special effects technicians combined blue screen techniques, computer scanning, and specialized digital software.''

_ ''_In the movie _Terminator 2 (1991),_ the special effects team pushed the boundaries of cinema even further by morphing a chrome robot into a real person while walking out of a blazing fire. The shape-shifting liquid cyborg was digitally created as a silver skeleton by computer, and then composited with film of the actor frame by frame.'' That's probably why _Terminator 2 _won the Oscar for best visual effects.

''Creating a dragon on the computer involves intensive research and painstaking attention to detail. First, a three dimensional image, called a ''wire frame,'' is created on screen. This is done by using specific digital lines connected to key parts of the dragon's body to form a digital skeleton. Then a special software program is used to mold the dragon's muscles, which will make it appear to move realistically, around the frame. Finally, ''Viewpaint'' technology is used to paint the dragon on the screen, giving it the computer generated skin, bone, and flesh of a living, breathing creature.''

Here are some more facts about how the ''digital dragon'' is created:

Wire frame is built up in stages, animators giving life to the data by moving the measurements frame by frame

The dragon's tail can be enlarged in size by stretching the lines and body points of the wire frame

Digital measurements must be exact and in scale with the whole image

To make the dragon stand upright on its haunches, the computer experts measure the feet and legs against the body to give the correct height reading

''Viewpaint'' software technology allows the operator to paint spines and scales on the dragon's body

The wings must be constructed with different wire frames to show them stretched out wide in flight or tucked into body

Now, I would like to thank Jake Hamilton for the wonderful article he wrote that I used to do this essay. It had useful information and I would suggest that you read it, too. I thank you for reading my essay and hope you liked it. This has got to be one of my best essays I ever wrote.

**Bibliography**

Hamilton, Jake. Special Effects in film and Television. New York, NY: DK Publishing. 1998. Print.

**Bibliography**

Hamilton, Jake. Special Effects in film and Television. New York, NY: DK Publishing. 1998. Print.


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